Albert H. Kim, M.D., Ph.D., is a neurosurgeon-scientist and an assistant professor in the departments of Neurological Surgery, Neurology, and Developmental Biology at Washington University School of Medicine. He received an A.B. degree in East Asian Studies at Harvard University in 1994 and then completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at New York University School of Medicine in 2003 to receive combined M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. He completed a neurosurgical residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston in 2010. During his resident training, Dr. Kim also pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School to investigate the molecular signals that orchestrate fundamental aspects of brain development. He then completed a fellowship at the University of Miami School of Medicine to acquire expertise in the management of complex skull-base brain tumors in 2011.

His research focuses on molecular signals that drive brain development and how these signals, when abnormal, contribute to the formation of brain tumors. He is particularly interested in the molecules that govern the behavior of an important subpopulation of brain cancer cells called “cancer stem cells.” Dr. Kim has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, which have appeared in high-profile biomedical journals including Cell and Science. He was given the RUNN Research Award and has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, McDonnell Foundation and the Brain Science Foundation.